|
|
EDITOR'S PICK
`Brick
Mansions` - great tribute for Paul Walker (IANS Movie Review)
Rating:
**
Here`s another film after "Transcendence" that is established in a
dystopian setting. But unlike "Transcendence", this one is an action
film, packed with Parkour thrills, a bit of romance and city politics.
Set in the hard-to-conceive near future - 2018, a news clip bookends the account
that summarizes the situation at Brick Mansions, an impoverished ghetto, a land
of undesirables that is infested with the underworld activities in the outskirts
of Detroit.
The initial high-octane action by an ex-convict Lino (David Belle) wrecking a
drug deal that is controlled by a ruthless gangster-cum-drug dealer Tremaine
Alexander (RZA) and then using his Parkour skills to escape the thugs chasing
him, is the precursor of the events to follow. It is one of the classiest
exploits that sets the ball rolling.
The narration of the saga starts off with a bomb along with a timer device being
stolen by gangsters. They then hold the city to ransom by threatening to blow it
up.
Detective Damien Collier (late Paul Walker) of the Detroit Police Force is sent
as an undercover cop to ferret out Tremaine from Brick Mansions. This is a
chance he would not want to miss, since Tremaine had gunned down his father
years ago. In fact, Damien is cautioned by his grandfather that, "revenge
and justice are not the same thing". Nevertheless, Damien is on the
mission.
So in a planned scheme, he befriends Lino and together they undertake the
mission to defuse the bomb and avoid calamity.
Once the motivations are established, majority of the time is spent with the
principle actors running around a giant complex pulping the villains. Everything
that follows is fast and furious. The volley of punches, the car chases, the
stunts and explosions make up for a bulk of the screen time.
Paul Walker as Collier is earnest in his histrionics. He delivers every line
with conviction and also handles the character`s intensely physical aspects with
ease. He is ably supported by David Belle. In fact, David steals the show with
his agile and swift run-jump-punch acrobatic movements. Together, they share an
instant and easy-going chemistry although they hardly speak for most of the
film.
But it is the rapper-turned-actor RZA as Tremaine who is the surprise package.
He supplies the requisite threat with bluntness delivering messages of
deficiency and societal disparity and yet transcends the character to a graph
that you will not hate.
Catalina Denis as Lola, Lino`s ex-girlfriend and Ayisha Issa as the sadistic,
leather-and-chain clad Tremaine`s side-kick are the competitive female
counterparts, who hold their stead.
The razor-sharp editing with quick jagged cuts makes the action look so fluid
and continuous that it is a treat to the eye. The camera-work especially the low
and top angle shots that are frequently used giving this film an eclectic field.
The script, by writer-producer Luc Besson, is a remake of his 2004 successful
French thriller "District B13", which in turn has the main plot of the
city being bombed, borrowed from the 1981 released film, "Escape from New
York".
Unfortunately this adaptation has glaring blunders. To start with, at the very
onset the setting is mentioned as a 20 acre area which makes the district just a
small piece of land. Then, the place is sparsely populated and finally there is
no mode of telecommunication projected in the film.
Overall, for first time director Camille Delamarre, "Brick Mansions"
carries the uncanny stamp of a hastily made mediocre Luc Besson film. However,
it is indeed a great tribute to Paul Walker as it is his last film. He died Nov
30, 2013 in a car accident.